The Achilleion is one of Corfu island\'s best known and most visited historical sites. It was built by Queen Elizabeth, also known as Sissy, of Austro-Hungary, in 1890, as a summer retreat in her beloved island of Corfu. Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia bought it after Sissy\'s assasination by an Italian anarchist and used it as one of his summer villas. Today it serves as a museum and historical site.

The villa is on the Garitsa peninsula and has a view of the Kanoni suburb and the sea west and south.

Sissy dedicated her villa to Achilles, the Homeric hero of the Trojan war, whom she admired greatly, and commissioned two Achilles statues that adorn the east side of the villa: Achilles in battle armor gazing over to the east, and, behind it, Achilles fatally wounded in the heel, his only vulnerable spot, by Paris\' arrow.

The villa is decorated with murals depicting ancient Greek themes, and statues of ancients. It is a three-story neoclassical structure, surrounded by beautiful gardens. Many find the art and the architecture of the Achilleion gaudy and glitzy and others find it impressive and noteworthy. It all depends on one\'s aesthetic sensibilities.

The Achilleion is open 8 am to 3.30 pm and admission is 6 Euros.